Retired Navy officer duped of ₹42 lakh in ‘CBI video call’ cyber fraud in Ahmedabad

A 53-year-old businessman in Ahmedabad has lodged a complaint alleging that his 83-year-old father, a retired Navy officer, was duped of ₹42.50 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as officials of the Telecom Department and the CBI, who conducted fake 'courtroom' proceedings over WhatsApp video calls.

According to Cyber Cell Police, Chaitanya Chandel, a resident of Satellite, stated in his complaint that the incident took place between December 8 and 10.

The complainant said his father, Sachindrakumar, who lives with his wife and is retired from the Indian Navy, received a call on December 8 from an unidentified person claiming to be from the Telecom Department. The caller allegedly told him that multiple complaints had been registered against his mobile number and that the matter was being investigated by the CBI in Mumbai.

Shortly thereafter, a WhatsApp video call was received. The caller introduced himself as 'Pradeep Kumar', claiming to be a CBI officer from Mumbai. He allegedly told the elderly man that a person named Naresh Goyal had transferred ₹20 lakh into his bank account and that he was under investigation.

The caller later arranged another video call in which a person appeared in what seemed to be a courtroom setting, dressed like a judge. The man, claiming to be a judge, allegedly told the complainant’s father that 27 cases had been registered against him and warned him not to disclose the matter to family members, describing it as a “confidential CBI inquiry”.

Police said the elderly man was repeatedly threatened and told that his reputation would be ruined. He was allegedly instructed to provide details of his bank accounts and to submit a written declaration stating that he was not involved in any wrongdoing. The victim reportedly sent photographs of the written statement and bank details via WhatsApp.

The accused then allegedly directed him to liquidate fixed deposits and transfer the funds via RTGS to a YES Bank account number provided by them, purportedly for verification by the Reserve Bank of India.

On December 9, the complainant’s mother visited a private bank branch near ISKCON and broke an FD, transferring ₹21.24 lakh through RTGS to an account specified by the caller. The following day, another FD was broken at a nationalised bank branch in Anandnagar, and ₹21.25 lakh was transferred to the same YES Bank account.

In total, ₹42.50 lakh was transferred over two days. The victim was allegedly kept on video calls for several hours daily and instructed not to leave home or speak to anyone during the so-called investigation.

The fraud came to light on December 11 when bank officials grew suspicious as the family attempted to withdraw further funds and alerted the police. The complainant subsequently filed an online complaint on the national cybercrime portal before approaching the Cyber Crime Police Station.

Police said the fraudsters appear to have deleted call records and chat history from the victim’s phone. An FIR has been registered against unidentified persons for cheating, impersonation and criminal conspiracy.